Policing Problem Places: Crime Hot Spots and Effective Prevention (Studies in Crime and Public Policy)

Both those who study crime and those who fight it agree that crime is not spread evenly across city landscapes. Rather, clusters of crime--a few "hot spots"--host a vastly disproportionate amount of criminal activity. Even within the most crime-ridden neighborhoods, crime concentrates at a few locations while other areas remain relatively crime-free. In Policing Problem Places, Anthony Braga and David Weisburd draw on rigorous scientific evidence to make the case that "hot spots" policing--dealing with crime at problem places instead of catching criminal offenders--is an effective approach to crime prevention, and that it should be engaged by police departments in the United States and elsewhere.

Anthony A. Braga is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard University.

David L. Weisburd is Walter E. Meyer Chair of Law and Criminal Justice at Hebrew University Law School and Distinguished Professor in the Criminology, Law and Society Department at George Mason University.